Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: hosts of "How Did We Get Weird?", Vanessa and Jonah Bayer!
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask Chat GPT” and audio rebuses.
Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.
Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
Hello, puzzlers. Welcome to the Puzzler Podcast, the Diving clothes Line in Your World puzzle Wrestling Championships. I am your host, A J. Jacobs, and today's guests are Vanessa and Jonah Bayer, multi talented siblings. Jonah is a music writer and a musician. Vanessa is a writer actor, former cast member of Saturday Night Live, and together they host the wonderful podcast how Did We Get Weird? Welcome Vanessa and Jonah.
Thank you so much, Jjy. We're happy to be here.
We are thrilled and I love your podcast. It's about you too. And a guest reminiscing about weird things from childhood, Saturday Morning cartoons, lunchables, saved by the Bell. One question. Have you ever done an episode on puzzles like Where's Waldo? Or mad Libs or anything like that.
No, we haven't. That's a great idea. We loved Where's Waldo growing up, right, Vanessa?
Yeah.
I think the closest thing to a puzzle that we might have talked about is like magic Eye. Those Magic Eye.
Oh yeah, no, those were good.
Yeah, those considered a puzzle.
I count I'm very liberal with the word puzzle. Uh were you able to do it because I was not. Really. I would stare at it and I thought people were pranking it.
Yeah.
I thought it was like, you know, when Ashton Kutcher was going to pop out.
Yeah. I could never get them either. Think it's impossible.
I think for me, they would when they were supposed to look like they were popping out towards me, they would always be going inward, like they'd be going away from me, sort of. But that was maybe one out of ten times. In the other nine times, I just got nothing.
That is weird, that is weird. Maybe I don't know what. Maybe it's were you in the Southern.
Hemisphere, Maybe maybe it was where.
Now.
I love the name of your podcast, How did we get weird? How did you choose how did we get weird? As the title?
It's good question, Benessa.
Do you remember we had a few ideas and.
I think we've found it to be sort of catchy, and I do think we find ourselves to be pretty weird, so it.
Kind of I think very organically we came to it.
Yeah, naming a podcast is it's a naming that band, Like, all the names are taken pretty much at this point, so it's you have a good name. It's simple, explains the idea. So good job with that.
Yeah, well, thank you. Well, I will say I love the word weird. I consider myself weird. And actually, I don't know if you know this, but it is actually an important word in the puzzling world. Are either of you puzzlers at all? Like crosswords or Sudoku or jigsaws anything like that.
I'm like a Monday New York Times cross word and then after that just as makes me feel like I don't know anything?
What about you, Vanessa mean?
Most nights I do the New York Times Mini Crossword, I do word all and I do I've started doing that game Connections, although it's often very difficult for me and often makes me mad, but it is so addictive.
It's infuriating and addictive at the same time. Yes, well, good, but you're in the puzzle world. But British crosswords use the word weird in their clues a lot. And British crosswords, I don't know if you've ever done them. They're called cryptics and they are all about wordplay. They love their anagrams, and the clues will say the word weird because it signifies that the next word is going to be an anagram that you have to mix up the letters. So if a clue is in a British crossword puzzle is something like weird, step up, the answer might be step you rearrange it to pest something like that. So you take the word right after weird and you mix up the letters. So this in honor of you, is a weird puzzle written by Greg Pliska, our chief puzzle officer. It sounds complicated, but it's not. I'm gonna give you a clue. So here's an example. Clue, Hey, I got some weird pots. They're read and octagonal and they look like a sign. So in that clue weird pots, the word after weird is pots. So you're gonna anagram that to make something that is octagonal red looking like a sign, which might be stop stop, I will not stop, I will keep going. You got it that that was a cheap one. All right, Well let's do it. Let's do some weird, some weird games. Are you ready?
I'm ready?
Yes, all right. I heard about this really weird diet where all you eat is laundry detergentness.
That you've any ideas for this.
One, well, diet d I e t Yes, I'm thinking it's probably a type of laundry detergent.
Nice And.
As someone who.
Loves major brands, real brand person over here, I think I have it.
Jonah, do you think you have it?
Are you thinking tide?
Yes, you are thinking correctly, because that is the answer. It is tied. And by the way, you know this is not a joke. Remember the tide pod all the kids were eating their.
Tithe Yeah, oh yeah, this is.
A little public service announcement that don't go on the tide diet please, all right. Next one, I was at the beach and I walked into this really weird dune and suddenly all my clothes fell off. So what might that dune?
Okay, so dune dune clothes falling off?
Yes, I think it's nude.
It is nude, exactly. Yeah, we got a couple more. Are you ready. We're gonna get a little We're gonna move it up a little. I ate these really weird tacos. They're super large and you can wear them to stay warm. Tacos that you wear to stay warm tacos.
I think I've got it.
Coats, coats, Yeah, exactly. All right, we're gonna keep with the food theme for one more. I got this really weird tarragon from the spice store. It thinks it's better than all the other spices. Tarragon that is a little conceited, little conceited, this tarragon. Oh this now I feel you are you are stuffed a little? Yeah, this one is hard, exactly what we wanted to tarragon. Well, you know how I like to focus on the clue, not on forget again.
Can we hear the clue again? Sure?
This really weird tarragon from the spice store that thinks it's better than all the other spices. It's super conceited. It is like pompous.
It is well, I thought of one, but I don't know that it means pompous or conceited, or that it has the right letters.
But I'll guess it. Okay, good, which is a reganel?
No, no, no, I will say that. I will say I'm getting hungry. It is if you.
Are, It's right. It doesn't have to be a spye.
Right, Well, I'll give you take off the from argon.
Oh, I got it. That's that's now, I've got it. Now I've got it? Did you have it?
Vanessa? I have no idea, so good.
Arrogant is correct.
That's right. You can be arrogant about getting that before your brother. So that was good. All right, have about one more, sure, and then we will we'll get an extra credit for the folks at home. I bought these really weird meats at the store yesterday. When you cook them, they just turn into water vapor. So meets the turn into water vapor.
This one I got, Vanessa, I don't think I have this one.
Ag I'm gonna go with steam.
You got it? You got it? So now you're even, Now you are even? Yes, so Vanessa got one? You got one? Well that was lovely. You did great. Where can people find more? Vanessa and Jonah content, Well, it's.
Funny that you asked that because we have a podcast ourselves called how did We Get Weird? And you can find it wherever you get your podcasts. And we have a lot of fun. We've had guests such as Sam richardson Weird.
Al Weird, of course.
Yes, weird.
We've had al.
Yeah, we we just had Bill Hayter on. Just a bunch of really great guests and so we and we love just talking about our childhood and how we got so darn weird.
Well, thank you for being weird, and thank you for coming on the show. Before we wrap up, as always for the puzzlers at home, we've got an extra credit puzzle, which is these really weird salesmen came to my door the other day and they insisted on remaining anonymous. So these salesmen were anonymous. So tune in to the next episode to find out what that is. And in the meantime, please subscribe rate the podcast. I recommend five stars. That's just me and if you're enjoying the podcast, tell your friends and we'll meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Hey puzzlers, Greg Pliska here up from the Puzzle Lab with the extra credit answer.
From our previous episode, we played I Love That for You with Vanessa and Jonah Bayer. Each clue points to a word or phrase that starts with the you sound. Your extra credit clue was picks with pictures of tiny tim and the answer is I love that for Ukuleles, So get your ukulele
And join us next time on the Puzzler podcast